DENVER (AP) -- It took a disputed goal by Matt Duchene for theColorado Avalanche to snap their string of nine straight lossesto the Nashville Predators.

Colorado's star looked offside on his second-period goal in theAvalanche's 6-5 win in a Monday matinee, but the officials ruledNashville had brought the puck back into their zone.

"The league already verified that it should have been anoffside," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said shortly after thegame.

"The explanation from the crew here was that we passed it back.We didn't pass it back. That's why they didn't blow the whistle.The league's already talked to us about it. There's no fix. It'sjust one of those things. Everybody has a bad day."

Including Nashville goaltender Chris Mason, who allowed sixgoals on just 18 shots before being replaced by Pekka Rinne, whoturned back all 10 shots he faced over the final 24 minutes asthe Predators made a furious rally from a three-goal deficit butcame up just short.

When the Predators pulled their goalie and Shea Weber scoredwith 1:18 left to make it a one-goal game, Duchene's disputedgoal loomed ever larger.

P.A. Parenteau had sent the puck up the ice and it deflected offNashville defenseman Scott Hannan's stick and Predators forwardCraig Smith's left skate on its way to a surprised Duchene, wholooked over his shoulder before gathering it in and scoring asboth Hannan and Smith pulled up.

Even Duchene expected to hear a whistle for being offside.

When he didn't, "I was shocked," Duchene said. "Even after Ishot it, I thought maybe I missed something. Like I said, Ididn't see the play. It might have been a good call by thelinesman, but from what I heard, it wasn't."

This was one of the few breaks the Avalanche have caught thisseason.

"We're not complaining, that's for sure," Duchene said.

The Predators did.

Trotz vehemently argued the score, which put Colorado ahead 3-1.

By game's end, he had cooled off, resigned to the bad call thatproved so costly.

"That's part of life, that's part of the game," Trotz said."Certain things are going to happen and you can't control them.There was nothing we could control about it, we just had to playthrough it. We didn't. It threw us off for a bit."

Trotz was kicking himself for not pulling Mason at that pointinstead of later in the period following back-to-back goals byPaul Stastny and Jamie McGinn that came just 13 seconds apart.

Those scores made it 6-3 and forced Trotz to summon Rinne, whois 6-1-1 in his past eight starts, with 6 minutes left in thesecond period.

"We stopped playing for two minutes and they got two goals,"Trotz said. "The offside was a good play by Duchene. I probablyshould have made the change then and I didn't. That's on me. Wefought back, but we were a little bit short."

Duchene also had two assists in helping the Avalanche to a rarewin over the Predators, who had outscored Colorado 34-14 whilesweeping the season series each of the past two years. His lastassist, to McGinn, proved the difference.

"It was a game of some crazy bounces tonight," Colorado coachJoe Sacco said. "I think the bigger play though was the one whenhe set up McGinn when he was able to out-battle one of theirdefenders and come up with that loose puck and make that play toMcGinn. That was a huge goal.

"It was one of those games tonight where there were a lot offunny things going on."

The Predators pulled to 6-4 heading into the third period whenJonathon Blum's shot bounced off Jan Hejda's skate and scootedpast Semyon Varlamov, who was coming off a 50-save game in aloss at Edmonton on Saturday night and saved 33 shots in thisgame.

"I just didn't make saves when I needed to make saves," Masonsaid. "They came hard to the net and they really work hard.They're a good offensive team and they caught us a little offguard the first part of the game."

Notes: Among the missing players from the Avalanche lineup wereD Erik Johnson (head) and F Gabriel Landeskog (concussion). ...Last season's leading scorer Ryan O'Reilly continues to hold outin a contract dispute. ... Nashville C Paul Gaustad (upper bodyinjury) went out in the second period. ... Since the start ofthe 2003-04 season, Nashville has a 22-8-8 record in matinees.

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